Del Potro and Querrey move through to third round at Queens

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Associated Press6/11/2013 1:56:06 PM

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LONDON -- Juan Martin del Potro had to fight off a strong challenge from Belgium's Xavier Malisse before reaching the third round of the Queen's Club grass-court tournament with a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-5 victory on Tuesday.

The third-seeded Argentine had won just three matches in his previous two appearances at the pre-Wimbledon event and was playing his first tournament in more than a month since a respiratory illness kept him out of the French Open.

He edged the opening set but was then overwhelmed in the second and looked set for another early exit when he trailed by an early break in the third. But he rallied to level at 4-4 and then broke serve again at 6-5 to claim victory.